


You're beautiful, even if you don't see it

by RedCatEye



Category: WWE, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Eating Disorders, I'm just gonna tag it, M/M, Self-Esteem Issues, Seth has serious body image issues, They must be protected, They're adorable dorks okay?, Weight problems, Y'know what, hurt/comfort I guess, implied eating disorders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-19
Updated: 2015-11-19
Packaged: 2018-05-02 10:01:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5244179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedCatEye/pseuds/RedCatEye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being the WWE World Heavyweight Champion puts a lot of pressure on a person. One must put up with fans, media and paparazzi. </p>
<p>But one must also deal with criticism, good or bad. And that...that's just too much pressure to take.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You're beautiful, even if you don't see it

**Author's Note:**

> The idea popped into my brain when I was watching Season 3 episode 24 of Total Divas (*shifty eyes* for research purposes) and I just realized: The male superstars also get a lot of standards and expectations put onto them, especially the champions.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the superstars mentioned in this story and I do not own, nor am I affiliated with the WWE. All characters belong to the World Wrestling Entertainment and I do not make profit writing this.

Dean woke up to the sound of a heavy object landing on the wooden floor of their apartment. Actually, more like a human body. He groggily opened his blue eyes and peered at the clock. 4:35 AM was the time displayed and Dean was about to roll back over to sleep when he heard it again, louder this time but was followed by Seth’s voice hissing in pain.

The blonde immediately stood up, the sleepiness completely gone, and went to the living room where the sounds were coming from. He was getting worried after every second that passed when he wasn’t in the living room yet. It felt like forever but he finally saw his boyfriend getting up from the floor, holding on to the arm of the couch to aid him.

“What the hell happened?” Dean said, a bit aggravated but he went over to help Seth get up. Once he was standing upright again, the Lunatic Fringe repeated his question.

“It was nothing,” Seth assured, cradling his right arm close to his chest as his breathing stabilized. “Go back to bed.”

“Not until you tell me what happened. Goddammit, Seth, what in the holy fuck are you doing at this time?”

Seth looked away from him, as if ashamed to tell him what happened. He murmured an answer under his breath and hoped that Dean didn’t catch it. Unfortunately, the other man did.

“What was that?”

Seth closed his eyes and exhaled before repeating, “I was trying to see if I could still do the Spaceman Moonsault Plancha over the sofa.”

Seth was sure that Dean was going to question him what the fuck he was talking about, since he probably didn’t watch old ROH videos to know what it was called.

Dean just stared at him and at the possibly injured arm before asking “Why? Risking your arm to see if you could still do a flip, which by the way, you still can. That doesn’t make sense. You’re Seth Rollins. You’re a high-flier. Of course, you can still pull it off.”

The truth was that Seth wasn’t sure he can pull off most of his moves anymore. His top rope strikes, his flips and most of his kicks were impossible to do now.

 AJ Lee noticed how much he gained weight and how it might affect him as a high-flier. Seth realized she was right: His old strikes wore him out and he would get dizzy easily when he would do a simple flip. And he felt bad about it. For the past few months, the younger man tried to eat less, or not eat at all, and he would work out like crazy. Dean just thought nothing of it. Seth was a CrossFit junkie, after all.

But what he didn’t notice was how often Seth would wake up in the middle of the night, enter the bathroom and throw up anything he ate for the past few hours. Or how he would excuse himself out of the room whenever they have guests coming over just to cry in their room. It’s worse when it’s one of the divas. He felt stupid because he’s comparing his figure to a woman’s but Dean always told him how he was shaped like one. When either Paige or AJ came by, he would feel as if Dean was paying much more attention to them and it was dumb but he couldn’t help it. Dean had a way with the ladies and Seth was lucky enough to be with the “unstable” man.

Dean noticed how immediately Seth became quiet. The two-toned man sat in the middle of the couch and Dean took notice how stiff his boyfriend seemed to be sitting, like someone would if they were trying to suck in a little fat.

“Babe, you okay?” He asked. It was a stupid question but he didn’t know how to approach the situation. He’s never seen Seth like this so he’s a little nervous that he would just make everything worse. He sat down next to him, his right hand resting just a few inches from Seth’s waist.

Seth took a deep breath, trying to fight the urge to cry. He looked up at the ceiling in his attempt to keep the tears back because he knew that doing so because of a little weight issue would be stupid. Dean goes through worse but he never cries or complains about it. He just tried to avoid Dean’s gaze as he released the breath he was holding.

“Dean….do you think I’m fat?”

The question struck the blonde-haired man as odd. Seth never cared about how his body looked before. It was always ‘As long as I feel great, I’m good.’ What the hell happened to that part of Seth? He struggled to find the proper words but he couldn’t think when his boyfriend was looking as if a puppy was killed before his eyes.

“I…No, of course not.”

Seth detected the hesitation. “Stop lying, Dean.” He said as he covered his face with his hands.

“I’m not lying,” Dean insisted, holding Seth’s arm and pulling at it to get the younger man to uncover his face. “Who told you? Was it Nikki? I swear to god-“

“It wasn’t Nikki. Nobody told me that I’m fat. I just am.” Seth pulled his injured arm away from Dean’s grasp.

The Cincinnati native knitted his eyebrows together. Since when did Seth have body issues? He was built like a fucking god for crying out loud.

“Why? Why d’you think you’re fat?”

Seth felt the tears flowing already but he didn’t do a thing to stop or hide them. “I don’t know. I just do.”

“You don’t know or you won’t tell me?”

“I just-“

“You have to tell me, Seth. How long have you been feeling this way?”

“Why are you antagonizing me?!”

“I’m not doing anything. I’m just asking you-“

That’s when Seth broke down. His sobbing was surely heard down the hall. Dean felt bad. How long has Seth been like this? He’s not used to Seth being so vulnerable. He’s always confident and cocky and Dean didn’t notice a change in his attitude. But yeah, he had noticed how little his boyfriend would eat but he figured it was just for a photoshoot or something.

The Lunatic brought the crying man closer to his chest in an embrace, running his fingers through the bi-colored hair.

“Why do you think you’re fat? I’m not asking for the sake of being mean. I’m asking because I’m worried. Do you know how ignorant I feel right now? I’ve been working my ass off while my boyfriend has been feeling like a piece of shit for the past few months.”

“It’s just that….a few months ago, Roman and I were watching old Ring of Honor matches while we were at the gym and I remembered all my move sets and Roman asked me if I could still do those. So I tried to show him that I could still do a backflip but then something went wrong and I just fell flat on my ass in front of everybody.” Seth confessed, his crying died down at this point.

“I felt heavy and AJ noticed that I’ve gained so much weight. And that’s where it all started.”

Dean sighed. He hated how Seth came to hating his own body and that he didn’t notice it. But Seth had so much pressure on him recently: Becoming the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, interviews, photoshoots, it was all too much for him and everybody expected him to look as if all that didn’t affect him. It never occurred to the blonde that Seth would be this….distraught, about his body for all things.

“Hey, stand up and take off your shirt.” He said, pulling back a bit so that he would see what Seth’s reaction would be. He was certain that he would get pissed since he was already feeling bloated and here was Dean, telling him to expose his upper body.

But surprisingly, Seth complied, pulling his shirt over his head and threw it away somewhere as he stood in front of his former Shield partner.

Dean smiled up at him. Seth was beautiful, for a lack of a better term. His muscles were well-defined but not rock-looking like other people who work out. He had a few curves on his hips and, sure, maybe a slight pudge but that wasn’t bad. But then again, this wasn’t what Seth saw.

“You wanna know what I see?” He asked, standing up as well and moving closer to the younger wrestler. “I see that you’re hot as fuck and every man would kill to have a body like yours.”

“That doesn’t really help.” Seth muttered, keeping his eyes down.

“Seth, listen,” Dean started as he held Seth’s shoulders with both hands. “I get that you feel a little overweight and I know that the way you feel about yourself isn’t going to go away overnight. But I’ll tell you that you’re the most gorgeous person ever everyday if that would make your day a little better. And don’t be afraid to tell me if there’s something wrong. I’m your boyfriend and I want to make sure that both of us are happy. You just have to trust me a little bit more. If you feel as if I can’t help you then I’ll be okay with it as long as you tell someone that can help you.”

Seth pursed his lips. Dean was right, he had been a little scared to tell him lately but it was unfair for him to expect Dean to know what to do after not telling. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Dean enough. The blonde once told him that he didn’t like drama in a relationship and that’s the reason why being with Seth was better than any relationship he’s ever been in.

“Okay.” Seth said simply, finally looking up into Dean’s blue eyes. He knew that it would be a while before he would feel comfortable in his own skin again but he knew that Dean would be there for him until he would be proud of his body.

“Oh and just so you know,” Dean added. “Your boots are the reason why you can’t do aerial stunts anymore. The storyline called for you to be a bit more ‘in-the-ring’ so they purposefully made your boots heavier.”

“But what abou-“

“And that Moonsault Plancha over the sofa? Let’s face it: The back of the couch is too high for any high-flier to do a flip over, even for you.”

Seth let out a soft laugh as he wrapped his arms around Ambrose’s waist. He planted a small kiss on the blonde’s lips before saying, “Thanks.”

“No problem, princess. Now come on. You need to get some sleep.”

                                                                               


End file.
